Matt Fitzpatrick’s US Open triumph could help Yorkshire to top-level tournaments once again Yorkshire News

SGH Events has co-hosted the Ian Woosnam Senior Classic in Ilkley for the past two years and will do so again with former US PGA Champion Rich Beem as the main attraction at the September event.

But they are aiming higher for 2023, with plans to bring a Legends Tour (previously Seniors Tour) event to White Rose County, even with their previous co-organisers Welcome to Yorkshire having pulled out.

After that, the goal is to raise enough capital to bring a DP World Tour (former European Tour) event to the region.

Yorkshire was a regular destination for European Tour events until the late 1980s, with golf’s biggest names such as Woosnam, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros playing regularly at Moortown in Leeds and Fulford in York. But the region has not hosted an event of this magnitude since 1989.

SGH Events, a promotions company co-founded by former golf pro Simon Hurd and Andrew Jennings, believes that with the right financial backing they can change that.

Jennings explained: “We were very excited about what we were doing with Welcome to Yorkshire and although that organization is gone we remain desperate to bring professional tournaments back to Yorkshire. We have a three year deal with Ilkley for the Senior Classic and through that event we have some great partners on board to the point where we are now thinking ‘okay, let’s set our sights a bit higher for next year’. We are backed by the Legends Tour and if more partners accept it, we will look into the DP World Tour.

“That is the dream; in fact, it is not a dream, because we can make this happen if we can find the financial sponsors.

“I appreciate that times are still tough, but there is still a great desire for golf; play it, support it and promote it in Yorkshire.

“We have this momentum from what Matt has done, now we go and build on that.”